[en] The radial size and shape of the distribution of nucleons - i.e. the sum of protons and neutrons - in atomic nuclei of the 1fsub(7/2) shell is investigated in the present work. The experimental basis of the studies are differential cross sections of elastic α particle scattering by sup(40,42,43,44,48)Ca, ⁵⁰Ti, ⁵¹V, ⁵²Cr precisely measured over a wide angular range at the 104 MeV α particle beam from the Karlsruhe Isochronous Cyclotron. The experimental cross sections are analyzed using so-called 'model independent' optical potentials by which the data are very well reproduced. The error bands of these potentials are determined in a well-defined form from the analyses. The high sensitivity of the data to the radial form of the real optical potential justifies, in principle, that the experiments are a suitable tool for investigating nuclear density distributions. Some pre-informations on this question are obtained from the optical potential analyses. For a more direct access to the nuclear matter distributions - in particular to differences between neighbouring nuclei - a semimicroscopic reaction model is presented which on the one hand is based on a fully microscopic many body approach. On the other hand all quantities being not of particular interest for the results are treated in a phenomenological way. Thereby, it is possible to reproduce the experimental cross sections as well as by the 'model independent' potentials and to obtain full consistency between the two approaches. This has not been achieved by any other microscopic reaction model. (orig./HSI)